After Kavanaugh, where do we go from here? Do we give up? Is despair an option, do we hide, do we self medicate with alcohol? Do we fight? If we fight, how?
The Kavanaugh—Christine Blasey Ford hearing and aftermath have been much debated, and lots has been written about what happened by those on both sides. The purpose of this blog is not to rehash these debates. The final straw for many, myself included, was when, at a political rally, the President of the United States openly mocked Blasey Ford and her painful story about being sexually assaulted. He egged his supporters on too who also laughed. The cruelty of their laughter, especially after she shared in her testimony when asked what the thing she remembered the most from her assault, was the laughter of her alleged assailants, Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, is crazy-making. What has happened to empathy in today’s political discourse? How is this even remotely okay? What kind of society is President Trump building if this is the fruit?
And people, women especially, are understandably angry at this confirmation process and the utter lack of regard, understanding, compassion and measured speech towards a woman who had nothing to gain and everything to lose by coming forward; and who was forced to come forward because someone (no one knows for sure who yet) leaked the private letter she sent to Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Anger is an important and necessary emotion because it compels us to act as long as we don’t let it turn inward into despair, depression and bitterness. So what do we do with the rage we’re feeling? Allowing ourselves to become numb to the incessant eroding of American democracy and civil discourse is not an option either.
The question now becomes how do we channel this anger into political action? The Republicans fought a 40-year battle to get a majority of conservatives on the Supreme Court so that they could overturn Roe V. Wade and with Kavanaugh’s ascension to the Supreme Court, and they won this battle. What will our 40-year battle be for those who disagree with the vision of America that the Republicans have shown us by their actions. A vision that is all about keeping and maintaining white male privilege–remember all the Republican Senators on the Judiciary were elderly white men. And such narrow vision that it excludes minorities and women from power or from contributing to the political discourse. A vision that viewed a woman who was a victim of sexual assault as an obstacle to be run over rather than a precious human being whose story must be heard and considered in a respectful manner. A vision that required winning at any cost where the ends seemed to justify any and all means to the point that this confirmation hearing was rushed through without thorough vetting of the candidate, a candidate who during the final hearing was at turns angry, belligerent and disrespectful to the senators, especially the female ones who questioned him.
What about a vision for an inclusive multicultural society? What vision would inspire you to work hard at it for 40 years come hell or high water until it was achieved? What would a vision of hope and love look like? How can we work to create a fairer, more just world that extends genuine equality to women and to minorities?
How can we do politics differently? What is a positive vision of human flourishing that we’d like to see 40 years from now. Can we articulate it? Can we begin to articulate and write it down? What does that feel like? How do we feel once we’ve achieved our vision of diversity? What is worth our working in love and hope for 40 years look like? What vision would inspire us and our better angels? Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech is one image. What are others? Can you write your own I have a dream speech about justice and equality being extended to every segment of the population regardless of gender, nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, class, age, sexual preference, sex or dis/ability? Write that out. What inspires you? What lifts your heart? What feelings are you feeling as you write out this vision.
Then, how do we shift the debate and not debate on their terms which require us to dehumanise the opposition. Let’s lift the vision higher. What would a politics of love and abundance look like rather than a politics of hate and fear, a politics where people on any and all sides are viewed as human beings that have dignity and worth and whose viewpoints are worth listening to and respecting? We fall into a politics of fear and hate when we debate them on their terms, when we get sucked into the angry back and forth of he said she said and when we begin to fall into the trap of dehumanising and demonizing our opponents. It’s okay to be angry. Anger is an important part of our motivation because injustice sucks and it is right to be angry about injustice. But how can we use our imagination and intelligence to think and act differently?
In two weeks’, I will be hosting three one-hour sessions to begin this conversation, entitled “Demystifying Activism.” Come join myself and others and begin to learn how you can make a difference. Learn how you can use your voice, your experiences and your talents to make a positive difference in this world doing things that you love.
To be an activist, you don’t have to fit any specific mould except your own. Voting and marching are important but there are other things people can do. Come as YOU are and join other like-minded people who are also mad and don’t know what to do or how to do it. By the end of the three sessions, you will be able to pick one issue to focus on and have decide one concrete action you can take to make a difference on that specific issue.
Come find out what your role is. Don’t slide back into numbness, despair, or apathy. There is only one you. Come find out how you can do something that suits who you are. If you are interested in more details write me at nkhogan@sophiatransformations.com